Saturday, July 16, 2011

The Straw That Broke the Camel's Back

I've finally managed to do it. I broke a bookcase. I knew it was just a matter of time. I'm nice to my books, hard on my cases.

I have five bookcases in my library: one for books I still have to read, one and a half for fiction, one and a half for nonfiction, and one for children's books. My children's book bookcase decided that it had had enough this past week. The second shelf, which holds picture books, broke and dropped its contents to the floor. Jeff was watching TV on Friday when he heard a loud crash and the cat come running down the stairs. He went upstairs to find my books all over the floor.

Here you can see where the shelf had been

He piled my books up on the bed we have in the library and called me. So now I have to go out and find a new bookcase. My idea is that this next one will be a quality case. Something that will move with me from house to house. Something I can show off. Not the cheap plyboard ones I bought from Target years ago. They've held up, but my bookcases have to be strong. I finally pushed one to the breaking point. Who knows how long the others will last. Particularly with this load.


3 comments:

Bleufleur said...

I see you have the Harry Potter series ;)

The only bookcase I have ever owned that did not bend was an antique. All the rest have bent shelves, swollen with too many books (but can there ever be too many books? Surely not. Only weak shelves)

Cat B said...

Of course I have Harry Potter. :-) I loved the series. I'm guessing you've read them. What did you think?

You are right. There can never be too many books. I'll have to take a tip from you and look for something antique that can hold up. These weak shelves I keep buying are clearly not capable of holding up my growing collections.

Bleufleur said...

I love the Harry Potter series. I won't quite go so far as to dress up and go to the theater for the movies, and I didn't dress up at the bookstore events either. I just like the stories and have seen all but the last part of the last movie.

Children's books are special. I'm still adding to my collection of The Bearenstein Bears. But the Harry Potter series is special because it grows with the audience and doesn't try to hide the fact that the world is an imperfect place...even in a fantasy world...which is nice.